HUNDREDS of teachers across Puerto Rico left their classrooms and took to the streets today to demand higher wages, improved working conditions and better pensions amid an economic crisis.

Several schools were left completely without teachers as protesters gathered in the capital San Juan and other cities, including Mayaguez and Aguada.

They marched, clapped and banged on pots, while passing motorists honked their horns in support.

Joalice Santiago, a 34-year-old teacher of Spanish and science, said: “We are tired of not being recognised.

“It’s about time that teachers rise up and explain to the world the value of their profession.”

She said that many teachers in the US territory were forced to have two or three jobs to make ends meet as the cost of food, electricity and water increases.

The island is struggling to emerge from bankruptcy and to recover from Hurricane Maria and multiple earthquakes.

The protest was the largest so far this week, with Puerto Rico’s Department of Education officials saying yesterday that over 70 per cent of public-sector teachers were absent

It came just days after a federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances approved a fiscal plan that contains salary increases for teachers and other public-sector workers.

Teachers could receive an average increase of 27 per cent on what they made in 2019.

Half the increase would be implemented on July 1, with the other half being conditional on them finishing a payroll and attendance system and providing for student attendance keeping.

Puerto Rico’s Association of Teachers rejected the plan, saying that it would only increase base salaries to $2,220 (£1,642) a month, instead of the $3,500 (£2,589) that it is demanding.